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Does that effect their rumoured interest in Michael Morse? I've stopped thinking of James Loney as a starting 1B, but in a world where Adam Lind apparently still has a job I guess anything is possible.

Interesting. Would you rather have Soto at 1/3 or Martin at 2/17? And, wow, Soto was terrible last year. Yikes!

Martin...

Soto looks cooked.

He previously had a run of Saberhagenian odd/even year splits, but last season was supposed to be his 'good' year (he was previously good in even-numbered years) and it was worse than his previous odd-year bad seasons.

1/3 isn't a bad number to test the theory... but it just looked last year like he aged 10 years overnight. The bat is slow, the eye is gone, and the power wasn't there.

Is part of what you're seeing with Martin just a change in offensive environment? Here's his EQA's over the last four years, per claydavenport.com: .253/.261/.260/.254. Add to that plus defense + pitch calling - he's an above average big league backstop.
(And, yes, a diminished pool of bats amongst big league catchers.)

Apparently its the largest non-casino hotel in the US, outside of Vegas.

It is a Gaylord hotel and Gaylord hotels are gigantic convention hotels. There is 4 of them throughout the country and they got bought out by Marriott about 6 months ago. The hotel chain got its start by building a 600 room hotel in Opryland back in the 70's. Back in the 9-0's they expansion turned it into a 3000 room hotel and the company branched out to other places in the country. They have one on the outskirts of DC that has over 2000 rooms and almost half a million square feet of convention space.

Napoli to the Red Sox to play 1B has at least one interesting secondary repercussion in that it takes the team that would otherwise have been Adam LaRoche's most obvious destination off the table. Hopefully this pushes the Nats and ALR closer to an agreement.

Napoli to the Red Sox to play 1B has at least one interesting secondary repercussion in that it takes the team that would otherwise have been Adam LaRoche's most obvious destination off the table. Hopefully this pushes the Nats and ALR closer to an agreement.

From what I've been reading the last couple days it sounds like LaRoche staying and Morse heading out is the most likely scenario.

From what I've been reading the last couple days it sounds like LaRoche staying and Morse heading out is the most likely scenario.

I can live with that; I value LaRoche's defense at 1B (particularly his ability to dig out the sometimes errant throws of Zimmerman and Desmond) every bit as highly as his bat, maybe even more so. Meanwhile I've never quite bought into the idea of Morse as a reliable offensive producer. His BABIP gives me the willies, although I'm familiar with the argument that the reason it's so high (and has been over a span of years, which helps the argument) is because when he makes contact he does so with such consistent power.

I think that if a deal gets done it will be something like 2 years guaranteed plus a third player-option year at a significantly reduced price. But then what do I know -- I thought Harper was going to be our CF of the future right up until the second the Nats traded for Denard Span.

I must have missed this one: who s Cornflake and why are the O's interested in him?

I believe it stems back to one time somebody (might have been me) was raging about Swisher having a clutch hit or something and then somebody saying something like: "Dude, you can call him Cornflake for all I care."

The Rangers prospects are almost all pitchers or 4-5 years away. Profar won't get traded, and there's no room for Olt on the Mets. Maybe Leonys Martin? Maybe a three-way trade sending Holland elsewhere?

The Rangers prospects are almost all pitchers or 4-5 years away. Profar won't get traded, and there's no room for Olt on the Mets. Maybe Leonys Martin? Maybe a three-way trade sending Holland elsewhere?

No room for Olt? Seems like he'd be a better option for either outfield corner than anyone else the Mets have.

Hes averaged 3.5 War/year over the last 4 years, but much of that was defensive WAR which has declined significangtly in the last 2 years, so its really a question of if he can maintain last years offensive production... At least its not Rowand money and years... but there is a lot of similarity between Rowand's 4 years before joining the Giants, and the last 4 years of Pagan's career.

Has anybody been both at Gaylord Opryland and Gaylord National Harbor? I've been to National Harbor and it's big, but not incomprehensibly so. I looked at both on the map and both looked the same, but the maps may not have been to the same scale, despite the listed scales. Opryland looks to be more complicated and may have a bad traffic flow. Everybody says it's big, but it may just be confusing.

It just seems odd as I recall reading Soria specifically wanted to sign somewhere where he'd close. I guess that's just something you say? Or I guess maybe no teams were willing to commit to a TJ recovery closer?

Hes averaged 3.5 War/year over the last 4 years, but much of that was defensive WAR which has declined significangtly in the last 2 years, so its really a question of if he can maintain last years offensive production... At least its not Rowand money and years... but there is a lot of similarity between Rowand's 4 years before joining the Giants, and the last 4 years of Pagan's career.

I just cannot believe that a 31-to-35-year-old Pagan is a good investment, at least for that much mazuma.
Can they think he's going to get better? Or even stay that good?
I guess it's possible that it'll pay off... what's the latest wins-per-dollar type estimate?

Royals talking Billy Butler to the O's and Mariners, but seem to want to be overwhelmed to make a deal. I don't see how they match up with Baltimore. Seattle makes some sense with Hultzen (I imagine Walker and Felix are off limits) but I don't think that's enough for a deal.